I’m just coming to the end of the Cross-Country Olympic MTB mid volume plan. I’ve manged to get through this without skipping or failing any workouts. I was just wondering what peoples thoughts are on going from a mid to high volume plan. Or should I incorporate some strength training as I do very little of that at the moment.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated along with any strength training plan recommendations.
I think the pretty standard answer is if you want to be a better pure cyclist add the volume, if you want to be a better all around athlete then add the strength training - if you can find a gym open…none in the UK 
That’s a good way of looking at it, thank you.
In the UK, too. Hopefully we’ll be out of it all real soon.
The answer has got to include an element of “it depends…”. What are your goals, and what timeframe are you looking at?
Agreed. Time frame isn’t important at the moment due to lack of racing but I’m still feeling motivated to get on the bike. I think my gain goal is to hit 4w/kg, which is currently at 3.75.
For me, choosing to introduce some strength training and core/back workouts made my a significantly better cyclists when doing longer rides. Hold my form is never an issue, even when doing races for 8-9hours. I’m doing 1-2 hours of strength workouts each week, no heavy weights but enough to gain a little bit of strength and endurance.
Sitting at 3.78w/kg so I know the feeling of wanting that 4…
I do core work even when gyms are closed as I TT and you need a strong core for staying on the TT bars and keeping all your er…parts in the right place…planks/side planks/press ups etc…but that only takes 10 mins 3/4 x week.